


inevitable

by VulpesUrsae



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Character Death, glimmer is sad and in PAIN, set in the Sentinels of Etheria campaign continuity, she stronk tho, she will survive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29850702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulpesUrsae/pseuds/VulpesUrsae
Summary: The march of time isn't something controllable. You are born, you live, and you die. It's the inevitability, the steady march we all have to do that makes us shy away from the thought. Some go ready, some go unexpectedly. Some go at the right time, and some go too soon. Who do they leave behind? Who's there at the end?
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	inevitable

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Going Gray](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29687796) by [Athetos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athetos/pseuds/Athetos). 



> Very much inspired by my friend Athetos' fic Going Gray! You should read it. It's very good.

Adora's heart is beating slowly. Glimmer knows it already, it's as much the healers telling her her wife is on the way of their life together as she just _knows;_ you don't spend decades with someone and not know how their every movement keeps the ground you walk on solid and the air you breathe light and fresh. Adora's eyes are closed at the moment, resting. Glimmer clasps her hand in one of hers, stroking the other woman's hair, the golden locks of their youth long since turned salt and pepper. _Still as soft and well kept as ever,_ she notes, smiling fondly at the sleeping woman's face, calm and free of any worries. As the years went by, Adora had developed a tendency to drag her stressed out monarch of a wife to relax more and more in the pools at Mystacor. Oh, how the tables had turned once Glimmer put on that crown. Aunt Casta had passed away a while back, but her magic still imbued the springs there and after spending time with the magical steam sinking into her bones, Glimmer had discovered a closeness with Castaspella she hadn't had the grace to experience in life. Funny how that worked.

Glimmer is stuck reminiscing; it staves off the thoughts of the inevitable, the march towards the void. She grips Adora's hand a little tighter, not enough to disturb her, but enough to feel her, make her more tangible in the moments they had left. She so badly wants to protect her from this; they had always had each other's back, no matter the disagreement or situation. Even when they were fighting there was no way to get between them. Adora had very much taken her mother's last words to heart and kept her promise. Glimmer had reciprocated in every way possible… and yet, here was the one thing she couldn't do. 

She lowers her head in sorrow, pressing her forehead to the bed railing as the infirmary door opens and closes silently. She doesn't have to look to know it's Bow, his footsteps so familiar she could pick them out of a symphony of noise. She looks up at her oldest friend and forces the faintest smile, more politeness than any attempt at appearing like the last person she wanted to see go would be gone soon. 

He stands at her side, laying a hand on her shoulder. Bow catches her eye, brown meeting her lavender. He knows as well the way mortality works, the steady beat of time until the end. He's headed that way as well, and the cruelty of it all makes Glimmer's heart clench sickly. She knows down to the minute when Adora will go. She can feel the magic in her fade, a side effect of being saved by her magic many times. Funny how that works. 

Bow murmurs something to her at first and it sounds muffled. Then he grips her shoulders a little more tightly and stares at her. Suddenly, Glimmer's back.

"Glimmer," he says firmly, kindly, with more concern than she can handle. "Breathe, sweetheart. _Breathe."_

And she does, for what feels like the first time in years, since the moment she began to lose her friends and loved ones, since the very first moment she realized she wasn't aging, and she lets herself _feel._ Here are the two people she's always been able to lean on, the pillars who held her up every time something went wrong, the best friends she'll ever have.

Glimmer breaks. 

She's the Queen of Bright Moon. Despite so many losses and failures, she hasn't broken down. A monarch needs to be strong, to appear both powerful yet benevolent to her subjects. Appearances make Glimmer feel big under the weight of the duty she's inherited. 

In this room, however; in this moment, she feels small. Powerless. 

Bow surges to hold her as she sobs, tears streaking down her face and soaking into his robe. Glimmer clutches at his clothing, digging her fingers into the folds looking for something to hold onto as the ground under her collapses.

Adora's life is fading and there's nothing to stop her light, so bright and hopeful, from going out. 

Bow strokes her back, holding her as she cries, shutting his eyes tightly against his own tears. He's begun the mourning process already, since the diagnosis had been delivered. This process was nothing new to the retired inventor, though it didn't hurt any less. Burying his dads and being the last of his brothers made this march all too familiar. 

A voice, tinged with concern and sadness, breaks them out of the sorrow. "Princess, don't cry."

A pet name for the ages. Adora had teasingly called her princess one day during their alone time and the nickname had stuck. As much as everyone else had to give her their respect as the country's royalty, Adora had known her when she was still tripping over her own feet in battle, and that's why she loved the name. 

"A-Adora! I'm so sorry, honey, I didn't mean to wake you--" Glimmer stutters, quickly shifting to grab her wife's hand as Bow shifts closer to her bedside as well. 

Adora shushes her gently and smiles. "It's okay, my heart. It's about time for me to wake up anyway." The old woman looks from her wife to the window, the curtains pulled open to let the sunlight in. The sunset shines over the blue in her eyes, and peace settles over the warrior. "Come here, dearest. I want to hold you for a while."

Glimmer moves hesitantly, unsure of herself and scared to hurt her wife, but with some coaxing from Adora, she settles into her wife's arms, pressing her face into Adora's neck. 

Over her head, Adora's eyes fall on Bow. An understanding, previously forged as soon as she knew she was dying, an unspoken promise since Adora first fell for Glimmer, is reached. A torch is passed between the two of them, one given to Adora long ago.

_She'd visited Bow one night a few weeks ago, knowing that this conversation needed to be had in person._

_They'd had their pleasantries, laughed, talked about old times and reminisced. As the laughter died down, Adora had given Bow the same look she was giving him now, the light of the fire turning her eyes into blazes._

_"I don't have long left," she said. "So, as long as you're able…_

"Take care of her, Bow," Adora mouths, and he nods. 

She sighs then, tiredness finally taking her over. And yet she's at peace. The war has been over for decades and the Rebellion's kingdoms are thriving. She was able to foster peace across the galaxy and got a beautiful wife and kids out of it too. Cerulean eyes fall on the love of her life, who's sobbing quietly and holding her dearly. "I love you, Glimmer. My wife, my heart, my everything," she murmurs softly, so only she can hear. Glimmer stills, trying to take in every word. 

It's time. They all know it.

"They need you, Glim, just as I have needed you since the moment I met you in that forest. I might leave you here but I am always going to be with you in every way that ever mattered." Straining ever so slightly, Adora presses a kiss to Glimmer's hair. "I love you. Both of you," she tells the two remaining of the Best Friends Squad. 

Her eyes close then, a smile on her face. She's done everything she could in this world, and she has a feeling she'll be doing even more in the next. 

When Adora finally stills, and the magic of She-Ra travels all the way across Etheria, Glimmer feels it. Bow slumps in the chair beside her bed. And they cry.

**Author's Note:**

> headcanons
> 
> -glimmer never touches Adora's side of the bed after she's gone. she damn near obliterates the first servant who tries to make up the bed afterwards. she does apologize to the servant for blowing up on him, but the line is clearly drawn: don't fuckin touch  
> -the kingdom mourns her death as hard as her friends do. adora definitely got out in the streets and was personally involved in the lives of her subjects as much as glimmer was; they loved her and she loved them  
> -at the funeral they do a 21 magic blast salute which startles all the horses except swift wind, who start panicking. its hilarious and brightens the mood a bit and glimmer cant help but think that its very Adora for that to happen  
> -glimmer meets the next She-Ra and is instantly reminded of her wife, it punches her in the gut but makes her smile to see the new She-Ra thriving in the peace they'd created  
> -catra is less old (in my head magicats age slower) by Adora's death and she doesn't hear about it in the wastes until its too late to say goodbye, but she does receive a letter from Adora after the fact that gives catra a lot of closure  
> -glimmer gets into singing and composing after her death as a way to cope and the first thing she releases is a song untitled but with a familiar melody. rumors fly among the guards in the subsequent weeks that it's the lullaby glimmer used to sing to adora when adora was too uncomfortable to sleep her first weeks in BM  
> -bow dies a few years later, and jewelstar becomes extremely close to glimmer as a result of the shared loss of a loved one  
> -in my head the other princesses also dont age, so there's a lot of sadness as the ones they love eventually die and its a thing all of the monarchs understand very well but don't talk about much
> 
> idk if I'll post more; we'll see where the wind takes us


End file.
